Title

Smell Improving Memory

Broad Question

Does smell affect memory?

Specific Question

Which of the smells; lavender, cinnamon, lemon, and vanilla will interfere the most with memorization?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that the citrus will make it easier for someone to remember the cards and the flower smell will work less.

Graph of Hypothesis

Hypothesis in Graph Form

Variables

Independent Variable: The different types of smells.

Dependent Variable: The percentage of card matches made out of a deck of 48.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

- The same amount of people.
- The same room.
- The same people.
- The same amount of cards.
- The same instructions.
- The same type of cards.
- The same amount of spray.
- The same times.
- The same month.
- The same age group of people.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

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General Plan

Potential Problems And Solutions

- No enclosed area to do experiment.
Ask a teacher if you can use their room or during class if possible.
- Not able to find the right air fresheners.
You can use a different brand but the same smell.
- Not being able to scheduled time to do experiments.
Try writing down a schedule with the students.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

- If the testers are allergic to something in the air fresheners.
- There may be CFC's that can hurt the ozone layor in the room spray.

Experimental Design

The materials that need to be used are the air fresheners


Febreze Air Effects sweet citrus and zest for the lemon 1
Airwick 4in1 Lavender and Camomile 1
Glade spray French vanilla 1
Air Wick Odor Stop Apple Cinnamon Medley 1
7th graders 5
room 1
memory cards 48
The experiment is to see if certain smells affect your memory performance. For the experiment the needed materials are lavender, lemon, cinnamon, and vanilla smells in air freshener form. You will also need memory cards and 5 7th graders. The experiment is designed to see if people will have better performance if memory if there are different smells in the air. The experiment was done in JBES school in a classroom. Most of the experiments were preformed on weekdays in the morning and midday. Spray the room and have the test subject come in and time them for one minuet to look at the cards and 2 minuets to flip as many matches as they can. The experiment will see if smell will change the memory.

(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
febreze Air Effects sweet citrus and zest	1	Family dollar	4.00
Air Wick odor stop Apple Cinnamon	1	Family dollar	4.00
Air Wick 4 in 1 Lavender and Chamomile	1	Family dollar	4.00
Glade spray french vanilla	1	super Market	4.00

Detailed Procedure

1.The first step to this experiment is to recruit 5 peers that will volunteer for testing understand that you will use them 5 times. To conduct the experiment secure an enclosed place so that the smell does not escape. Use the science room or any other enclosed room that can be schedule.
2. Collect 4 different scents. For this experiment you will need , Airwick 4in1 Lavender and Camomile, Glade spray French vanilla, Febreze Air Effects sweet citrus and zest for the lemon, and Air Wick Odor Stop Apple Cinnamon Medley. Also, the experiment will involve; a deck of 48 picture cards. Example; a picture of a dog on a card and a matching card.
3.Spray the testing room with up and downward strokes all around the room until it smells very strongly of the scent. Spray the room for 1 minute to get the desired smell.Once done putting on the fragrances bring in the first test subject for the first trial.
4.Make sure to bring a clipboard and spreadsheet to record the number of cards the tester has memorized out of the deck. Try to put the test results in a fraction so that way it’s easier to convert it to a percentage.
5.The picture cards should be set up in rows 5 by 5 on a tray or cookie sheet and have the tester try to memorize as many cards as possible in one minute. The tester is NOT allowed to see the cards once the time is over.
6.After the minute is over, take the cards away and using a spreadsheet check off all the cards the tester remembers in two minutes.
7.Repeat step 5 and 6 for each test subject. There will be 8 trials per smell so that there are accurate test results.
8. For the no-smell test do the same thing but without spraying the fragrance in the air, repeating steps 5 and 6 for each test subject.
9.Select a second fragrance and repeat steps 5 and 6 for each test subject.
10. Select a third fragrance repeating steps 5 and 6 for each test subject.
11.Turn the fraction into a percentage and compare the smell test and the no-smell test. See which smell helped the most with memory.

Diagram

Photo List

Time Line

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Data Table

Data Table of Trials

Data Analysis

All Raw Data

Graphs

Data graph

Photos

Results

The average matches for lavender test is 7.2. The average matches for lemon test is 8.4. The average matches for vanilla test is 9.2. The average matches for cinnamon test is 9.2. The average matches for the no-smell test is 11.6. The no-smell test did better than all of the others.

Conclusion

This experiment was designed to see if smell will affect the amount of matches in a memory card deck. The ending conclusion is that the theory was wrong. Smell does not affect memory. The highest average of matches was the no-smell tests at 11.6. The second best was the cinnamon and vanilla with a tie of 9.2. That shows that those smells are the better smells for memory.

Discussion

The experiment question is does smell affect memory. The experiment data definitely
answered the question. It answered the question because all of the data pointed to the answer
being yes, but in a negative way.The scores on the memory tests showed that smell does not
affect memory. It was hypothesized that smell would affect memory performance, but it did
not. All of the smell trials averaged by score. Lemon got 8.4, lavender had 7.2, vanilla and
cinnamon both had 9.2, but the highest was the no-smell test at 11.6. That tells me that people
do better testing without a smell. A pattern with the smells is that the sweeter smells like
vanilla and cinnamon were higher than the more tangy smells such as lemon and lavender.
The research has shown that Olfactory memory is a type of reaction to certain smells that help
boost memorisation. The results were different then the Wikipedia research. The research
showed that smell does affect memory, but the studies did not. That may be because of all of
the dependent variables in the tests like the different days or the age of the people.

The experiment changed a lot from its original design. At first there were 10 trials set in
place but then it went down to 5. That brought the data originality down a lot. If there was a
redo the experiment would have had bigger memory cards because the people that were
testing said that they were hard to move. The experiment would have more experiments so
that the data would come out more accurate. The experiment would also have earmuffs on
the people so that it would block out the nose from the other room or just to help them
concentrate more easily. The most technology involved was a timer to have all the times the
same and if a timer could be used then it won't be a problem. The information will be a good
use to our society because schools can use it to help people test better with not having a
certain smell in the air. Some new questions that can be built off of this experiment would be,
“Does color affect memory,’ or, “Does music affect memory.” Very good information about the
topics came out of the experiment, like that sweeter smells are the better smells to use.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

People will be abile to knnow that cerine smells will ffect memory in a good way or bad way. People can use it in schools and work invierments because they will know what smells will help work productivity.

Background Research

My research showed that there is a scientific word for my question and it is called Olfactory memory. There have been many studies on the effect that smell has on memorizing things from the past. The experiment that was preformed was on the effect that smell has on memory performance. There are many other smells such as coffee or certion foods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_memory
http://www.macalester.edu/academics/psychology/whathap/ubnrp/smell/memory.html
http://the-trukstop.com/2007/03/09/does-the-smell-of-coffee-affect-your-memory/

References

Abstract